Japan's DoCoMo takes $45 mln stake in NextWave unit

TOKYO, July 6 (Reuters) - NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T), Japan's largest mobile operator, said on Monday it bought a 35 percent stake in NextWave Wireless Inc's (WAVE.O) software unit PacketVideo for $45.5 million to strengthen its music and video services.

DoCoMo, which competes with the country's No.2 KDDI Corp (9433.T) and No.3 Softbank Corp (9984.T), is shoring up its contents services to fight subscription flight in a cut-throat and saturated market.

DoCoMo aims to secure its partnership with PacketVideo, which already supplies the carrier with software to replay music and videos, ahead of the planned launch of its next-generation "Long Term Evolution" (LTE) services in December next year.

LTE allows faster downloads and uploads and better sound and image quality. (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi)